THE WRITERS TAKE OVER

By C.W. NeviusOn the Air

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. Nov. 11, 1994 -- The Chronicle
sports sections may be no more than a
collection of
dated wire copy,
but members of the Sporting Green staff are still offering
their unique
perspectives to Bay
Area sports fans.

With the newspaper strike, local television stations
have picked up
the option on the
Chronicle's free agents, and are letting the writers get to the
other side of
the camera.

KGO, KRON and KTVU are all using sportswriters to augment
to
their
coverage.

Channel 7 made the biggest commitment, adding both 49ers
beat writer
Ira Miller and
columnist Glenn Dickey to their coverage. Miller was seen on
the regular
Monday night
49er wrapup show, with tight end Brent Jones, and Dickey is
offering columns
three times
a week on the 10 p.m. sportscast.

Also appearing last week were columnists Joan Ryan, who
was on
Channel 4's
""Daybreak'' morning show , and C.W. Nevius, who was part of a
group of
reporters on
KTVU's,. ""Mornings on 2.''

Naturally, the first thing everyone wants to know is:
how are the
ink-stained types
doing? We turned the tables, and let KRON's Gary Radnich, who
gets plenty of
attention
from the critics, a chance to evaluate the novices.

""I think Dan (Lovett) and Martin (Wyatt) gave Ira too
big a buildup,''
Radnich said.
""They kept saying "The King is here, the King of the 49er
report card.' Ira
had no place
to go.''

Meanwhile, Lovett had nothing but praise. He noted that
during the
video highlights,
Miller ""made a couple of interesting observations we might not
have
seen.''

Radnich thought Dickey was fine, although he had a
suggestion, since
the
commentaries are taped.

""If you're gonna tape 'em, bring a change of
clothes,'' Radnich
says. ""That what I
noticed, same suit both times. I think all of you guys are
better playing off
somebody than
just you on a camera. But I won't truely appreciate Glenn until
he calls for
the firing of
both Tony La Russa and Dusty Baker.''

As for Ryan, she may have the toughest assignment of
all. Because
""Daybreak'' is
on so early, she has to leave the house at 5:30 a.m.

""Joan's appearance,'' Radnich says, ""is just an excuse
for
(producer) Dennis
O'Donnell to get out of producing my show for his own thing.
And that's the
truth.''